Minimally invasive medicine, the practice of gaining access to a body vessel, duct, or organ using a guiding member to facilitate the subsequent introduction of other medical devices, has been evolving since the Seldinger technique was first popularized during the 1950's and 1960's. Self-expandable intraluminal medical devices are frequently used in a variety of minimally invasive procedures. For example, self-expandable stents are used to provide support to various vessels and ducts in the circulatory and the gastrointestinal systems. Also, prosthetic valves are gaining popularity as tools for supplementing and/or replacing natural valves in a variety of locations within the body, such as veins and the heart and its associated vessels.
When placing medical devices within a body vessel, it is desirable to place a medical device as close to the desired point of treatment as possible. There are delivery systems known in the art that utilize a pushing function to move a medical device from the system to a position within a body vessel at a point of treatment. This method of delivery requires the delivery system operator to estimate the point at which a device will be deployed. Further, the operator is required to position the system appropriately in the body vessel to deliver the medical device as near as possible to the point of treatment.
There is a need for delivery systems that offer more accurate delivery of medical devices near the desired point of treatment, especially delivery systems adapted for placement of self-expandable intraluminal medical devices.